Canaan senior vice president, Edward Lu, shared the company’s plans to create green energy standards for Bitcoin mining on the mining stage at Bitcoin 2022. Lu gave a speech, titled “Clean Energy: The New Revolution of Bitcoin Mining.”
Lu said, “Sustainable Bitcoin mining is related to the future of human society, and the key lies in the construction of more advanced energy-efficient technologies and green mining infrastructure, as well as continued increase in the proportion of renewable energy use.”
Canaan has officially released four standards for their Avalon Made products, engineers, cooperative mines and after-sales service in order to promote sustainable mining construction. He also shared his views on immersion liquid cooling technology to promote the transformation of mining infrastructure to “green” solutions.
The company released their three key pillars of green mining: Energy, Miner and Infrastructure (EMI).
For energy, bitcoin mining plays an active role in both traditional energy power and clean energy power. Miners look for low-cost or free electricity to power their machines. It is common for mining equipment to be deployed in oil and gas fields and hydroelectric power stations. By deploying mining equipment on oil and gas sites, the carbon footprint of the extraction process is reduced. The reason there is no other way to do this is because other industries lack the flexibility of Bitcoin mining.
The use of clean energy in Bitcoin mining has been on the rise and serves as a useful barometer in the promotion of clean energy. One example is the massive investment in green energy projects to protect the grid from extreme weather, such as snow storms or summer heat waves. Typically, the supply of electricity exceeds local demand and Bitcoin mining converts this excess capacity into storable value. When the peak electricity consumption is reached, the grid operator will notify the miners in advance to power the machines down and release the electricity back to the grid.
As for mining, the core of maintaining the stable operation of the Bitcoin network is the proof of work. In the past 10 years, the exponential growth of the entire network computing power has continuously increased the strength of the network and encouraged more participation through block rewards. In order to achieve competitive products, mining machine manufacturers have been pursuing the ultimate in advanced technology and continuously improving the power utilization efficiency of machines. Visionary engineers are also looking for new liquid cooling technologies and circuit design methodologies for ultra-low power consumption.
According to Lu, “infrastructure needs to be continually upgraded in order to be more environmentally and climate friendly.” In North America, listed companies are increasingly incorporating the awareness of their carbon footprint and clean energy into their differentiated operating strategies. Some companies formed an organization called the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) and set out to build greener mining operations.
Avalon Made is also setting up Canaan Service Centres (CSC) worldwide to offer a localized and timely response to the customers as well as to provide technical support including machine deployment and maintenance for mines capable of clean energy mining.
The company’s major announcement is their official release of their newest ASIC miner. Lu told the crowd at Bitcoin 2022 of Canaan’s brand new Avalon 1266. This is Canaan’s first miner that has achieved a hash rate of 100 terahashes per second and an energy efficiency of 35 joules per terahash, currently taking the rank of their best performing air-cooled miners.
The company also shared that they have entered into a partnership with a European company focused on solar-based bitcoin mining. Most machines in their mines are powered by solar panels. Canaan will prioritize sustainable mining in the future and work with more mining companies that deploy what the company considers clean energy to power their mining operations.
Bitcoin 2022 is part of the Bitcoin Event Series hosted by BTC Inc, the parent company of Bitcoin Magazine.